Artist: David Behrens
Title: Visions of Valor
Size: 19" x 26-1/2"
Edition: Artist Signed and Numbered, Limited Edition to 500
Medium: Fine Art Print on Paper
About the Art: Not until recent times have the Navajo Code Talkers and other Native American veterans been recognized for their contributions that proved to be pivotal in winning a U.S. victory in World War II. Although other branches of the military enlisted Oneidas, Chippewas, Sauk and Foxes, and Comanches to encode and decipher communication, it was the Marine Corps that developed the largest program. By the end of the war over 3,600 Navajos had served their country and out of that number 420 served as code talkers.

After discovering that U.S. military codes were easily deciphered by Japanese cryptographers, Philip Johnson, a World War I veteran and son of a missionary to Navajo Country, suggested devising a system based on the ancient Navajo language. After recruiting several Navajos some amazing results followed. In the past what normally took thirty minutes to code and decode a message took these young Navajo recruits a staggering 20 seconds.

The challenge that presented itself before the first Navajo code talkers was to devise words for military terms that were not part of their language. Eventually with much effort and creativity a complete glossary of over 400 pertinent words was constructed and mastered. Submarine was besh-lo (“iron fish”), fighter plane was dah-he-tih-hi (“hummingbird”), bombers were jaysho (“buzzards”), bombs were ayeshi (“eggs”), battleship was lotso (“whale”), squad was debeh-li-zine (“black street”), and destroyer was calo (“shark”) to name a few. All throughout World War II the code talkers received continuous praise by commanders at all levels and proved to be the decisive factor in every Marine assault from Guadalcanal to Okinawa.

There is probably no other photograph that evokes the feeling of American patriotism in war more than “the raising of the flag on Iwo Jima”. Represented in that famous photograph is a Pima Indian named Ira Hayes celebrating a victory that the Navajos solidified. Hayes was trained as a paratrooper and in 1945 landed on Iwo Jima with the Fifth Marine assault troops. After the war he was hailed as a national hero but the guilt of being a survivor haunted him. In 1955 he died on his reservation from alcoholism and over exposure to the cold. Although his death was tragic, his service to his country, a country that at the time did not acknowledge him as a citizen (American Indians were not granted U.S. citizenship until 1948), was nothing more than valiant. His legacy as well as those legacies left by thousands of Native American war veterans profoundly echoes the Marine Corp motto Semper fi, “always faithful”.


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